OREGON
8A — THE OBSERVER
DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
School will
look more
normal
this fall
Oregon schools
should plan to offer
5 full days this fall
By EDER CAMPUZANO
The Oregonian
SALEM — School will
look much more normal this
fall, with students attending
class in-person for fi ve full
days, teachers taking regular
attendance and both going
about unmasked during
recess and other outdoor
activities.
But the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education, which
is drafting its coronavirus
mitigation guidelines for the
new year, might still require
students to wear face masks
in classrooms and ask dis-
tricts to off er an all-remote
learning option.
The draft guidelines,
which the agency will offi -
cially adopt in late July, are
not fi nal nor do they lay
out exactly what the future
holds for Oregon’s approxi-
mately 560,000 public K-12
students.
But the document does
provide a look at which pan-
demic policies and proce-
dures that the Department
of Education adopted last
March the agency is likely to
adjust or even drop as more
Oregonians become vacci-
nated and the state creeps
back toward normalcy.
The agency will likely
encourage, rather than man-
date, that schools keep chil-
dren three feet apart “to the
degree possible,” a depar-
ture from its current guid-
ance. It will also require
districts to automatically
unenroll a student upon a
10th consecutive absence,
a state rule the Department
of Education temporarily
dropped “to serve students
to the maximum extent
possible.”
The Department of Edu-
cation also says it will relin-
quish its role in deciding
when and whether districts
can allow visitors inside
school buildings, how to
screen students for symp-
toms of COVID-19 and
whether to split pupils into
cohorts.
But the agency will still
require districts to plan how
they will isolate and quaran-
tine students and tell fami-
lies if there’s a positive case
in a school.
On the academic side,
the department likely won’t
allow districts to keep a
student from moving up a
grade level or signing up for
advanced classes in a math
or English sequence based
on how they performed
during the pandemic.
Likewise, academic
achievement over the last
14 months shouldn’t bar
students from partici-
pating in sports and other
extracurriculars.
“You shouldn’t limit a
student’s opportunity to
advance in a course just
based on what was hap-
pening to their performance
during the pandemic,”
Cindy Hunt, the agency’s
manager for government
and legal aff airs, told the
Oregon Senate Education
Committee last week.
The advancement guide-
lines dovetail with a bill
the House Education Com-
mittee approved that would
waive the requirement for
students in Oregon’s classes
of 2022, 2023 and 2024 to
demonstrate basic profi -
ciency in math, reading and
writing in order to earn a
diploma. The legislation is
likely to be signed by Gov.
Kate Brown after the Senate
votes on it.
The Department of Edu-
cation will also require that
students who opt for remote
learning next year take stan-
dardized tests and spend at
least half of their time in
class synchronously with
their teacher.
The agency will offi cially
adopt its new rules July 22.
SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2021
Brown sets June 21 target to end limits
Oregon about
127,000 adults
short of 70%
vaccination goal
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Nearly all
COVID-19 restrictions
could be lifted in as early as
just over two weeks, Gov.
Kate Brown said Friday,
June 4.
The state is about
127,000 adults short of the
goal of getting one shot of
vaccine into 70% of eligible
residents.
Once the state crosses
the threshold, Brown said
she would lift masking,
business capacity, event
size, social distance and
other limits that Oregonians
have dealt with for over a
year.
“We can fully reopen —
we can all look forward to
that,” she said.
Local health offi cials
would then take over the
daily decision-making
and operations in counties
from the Oregon Health
Authority.
Brown said even very
large events, such as the
MORE INFORMATION
Lifting restrictions would include:
• End the risk level system for counties of lower, moderate, high and
extreme
• End a state requirement for masks and face coverings in almost all set-
tings. Exceptions would be airports, public transit, and health care set-
tings that follow federal agency guidelines.
• End requirements for individuals to show vaccination verifi cation in
public venues and businesses.
• Allow K-12 students to attend school in-person, full time, fi ve days per
week.
Pendleton Round-Up in
September, would be good
to go once the state hits its
target.
Oregon’s statewide mark
stood at 66.2% on June 2.
OHA Director Pat Allen
K-12 guidance is being
revised to support schools in
safely delivering in-person
instruction throughout the
school day.
Current health and safety
standards — including
“ We can fully reopen — we can all
look forward to that.”
— Kate Brown, Oregon governor
said that if the current pace
continues, the mark would
be hit about June 21.
“This is not a slam
dunk,” he said.
Allen said the June 30
deadline set earlier in the
year by the governor was
well within reach.
“It will take a lot of work
by a lot of people to get it
done,” Allen said.
indoor mask requirements
— will remain in place in
workplaces, schools and
child care settings. Colleges
and universities can make
their own decisions on pro-
tocols after considering
guidance from the Centers
for Disease Control.
Brown said the move
would not mean the pan-
demic was over in Oregon.
She will reexamine whether
or not to lift her emergency
order that gave her a wide
latitude on public health
decisions.
“The pandemic will not
be over,” she said.
To try to increase the
vaccination rate toward the
goal, many pharmacies will
extend hours to reach out
to more people who want
shots.
“Some people are not
vaccine resistant, but vac-
cine inconvenienced,” Allen
said.
Brown also reiterated
plans to give away $1 mil-
lion to a vaccinated Orego-
nian, along with $10,000 to
a vaccinated person in each
of the 36 counties. Schol-
arships worth $100,000 are
also being off ered in the
vaccination program.
Brown and OHA offi cials
said it was time to push past
the current levels of inocu-
lation as medical evidence
and state statistics show the
impact of the virus has sep-
arated residents into two
groups with very diff erent
likely futures.
Those with vaccination
are almost completely free
of infections, severe illness
and death.
But the pandemic is still
“a shadow” across the state
for those who are not inoc-
ulated. OHA said nine out
of 10 deaths are currently in
people who have no record
of vaccination.
Children, immunocom-
promised and the those who
have not been able to get
vaccinated must still be con-
sidered when communities
decide to what steps to take.
“There are still Orego-
nians who need to take extra
precautions to feel and stay
safe,” Brown said.
Those battling cancer,
immunocompromised Ore-
gonians, and organ donors
were among those still
needing protection, to name
a few. There are also many
Oregon kids who are not yet
eligible for a vaccine.
“So, it will remain
incredibly important for
Oregonians to continue
making smart choices,”
Brown said.
OHA will continue to
monitor the global pan-
demic and provide assis-
tance and resources, but
will increasingly advise
local offi cials on measures
to take.
OHA and CDC are
expected to issue more
guidance in coming days as
the state nears the 70% goal.
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